Wait and Hope... Like a Nesting Mother
I feel like Sarah, Abraham’s wife, nearing the end of her long wait. The promise is finally coming and it’s time to get ready, to celebrate, to rejoice.
A PROMISED CHILD
God promised Abraham and Sarah a child of their own. Their child would inherit all the blessings God had given Abraham. Their child would produce a nation, countless children of God. What a promise!
But Sarah was barren, unable to make her body deliver the promise. Years passed while Abraham and Sarah waited for a miracle. At times, years passed without a word from God. No word of comfort. No word of reassurance. No reminder of the promise.
Abraham and Sarah did what we all do, they went about their daily lives dealing with the various crises that come up. All the while, thinking about the promise.
When would the promise come?
Had God forgot them?
Had too many years passed for the promise to come?
Was the promise theoretical, not physical?
Should I remind God of his promise?
Should I do something to help God deliver his promise?
Should I protect my heart and stop hoping for the promise?
Then, when it was humanly impossible for Sarah to carry a pregnancy, God sent messengers to Abraham to inform him the time had come. “Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” - Genesis 18:14 (NIV)
Suddenly, Sarah’s wait changed. No longer did she have to deal with doubts and worries. She went from, “One day, I hope to have a child,” to the response of every nesting mom, “I’ve got to get ready, now! I’m about to have a baby!”
A PROMISED ADOPTION
Many a mother can relate to Sarah. Whether it’s infertility, secondary infertility, or the complex wait of adoption, countless women have gone through Sarah’s transformation from Waiting Mother to Expectant Mother.
When we began our adoption journey, Ethiopian adoptions were generally taking about a year to process. But during our paperwork process (which took a several months), international regulations changed causing an immediate delay in the timeline to 2+ years. It changed again the week we finalized our paperwork (called a “Dossier”). That week, Ethiopia changed regulations so that no one knew how long an adoption would take.
We were essentially in line, waiting with no promise the line would move forward or that we would get to the head of the line. Our wait might be a year or it might be infinite. No one could tell us because no one knew.
We knew we were supposed to adopt. Like his promise to Abraham and Sarah, God had confirmed that several ways. We obediently stepped through the hoops of international adoption and now there was nothing to do but wait.
I understand why Sarah laughed with despair, “Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, ‘After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?’” - Gensis 18:10-12 (NIV)
We were getting old too. Doubts and questions drove my anxiety through the roof.
Were we getting too old while we waited? Should we remove ourselves from the list?
Would we get a Referral (a match to a child) and then NOT be able to complete the adoption? Could I live through that?
When will this wait end? Will it end?
Has God forgotten our adoption?
But then we got our Referral and it came with surprises. The first was the timing. We were no where near the “top” of the list so we weren’t expecting a call from our adoption agency. The second was the number. We had always assumed we would be matched to a boy. A single boy. It was just a gut feeling, nothing more than that. Our paperwork was open to siblings so I’m not sure why we were so confident in our gut feeling. When we opened our referral, we discovered it was for a boy and a girl. Siblings. A girl! I laughed!
Just like Sarah, an unexpected message at an unexpected time changed my laughter from laughter of despair to laughter of joy.
“Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him, as God commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, ‘God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me.’” - Genesis 20:1-6 (NIV)
Learning an interminable wait is about to end is like seeing those two pink lines on a pregnancy test or getting an adoption referral. Without the pink lines or the referral, you only wait. With the pink lines or referral, you buy the carseat.
Knowing your wait is about to end, doesn’t change the promise. It changes your response.
A PROMISED VACCINE
God’s past faithfulness displayed in his fulfilled promise to Sarah and his fulfilled promise to me prepared me to wait with hope for the end of my wait in the coronavirus pandemic.
The wait for a vaccine stretched us. Like waiting for our adoption referral, we waited and hoped to wake up to an email in my inbox with a delightful message, “You’re next for the vaccine!” But there was no vaccine and no one could say when one would be available. At times, it seemed foolish to wait with hope.
But I have learned to wait with hope. I told myself truth soaked in the hope that I’ve found in God’s faithfulness.
Vaccines take years to develop.
Our wait could take years. Prepare your heart for that.
Wait, but wait with hope. It may take years, but it will come.
I am a hopeful realist.
In December, the news we had waited for arrived. And it came with a surprise: not one, but two vaccines were given emergency approval. Doses were being shipped. And more, a roll out plan for the order in which vaccines would be delivered was made public.
Our wait changed! We went from, “One day, we hope to get vaccinated,” to a celebratory, “I’ll be vaccinated this year!”
FROM PERSEVERE TO PREPARE
Receiving a Referral meant we would go to Ethiopia to meet our children and go to adoption court. It meant packing bags and buying plane tickets. It meant we knew where I children were born, how old they were, and what size clothes they wore. It meant we knew what color to paint the walls. It meant we could make a list: crib, high chair, diapers, bunkbeds, tricycle, shoes. We were given the green light to move from persevere to prepare.
I haven’t received a vaccine yet, but the news that a vaccine is available means we can prepare for our lives to change. We will be able to gather with friends, send the kids to school, and return to the office.
God doesn’t owe us the details of his timing when he is about to fulfill a promise. But sometimes, by grace, we receive those details anyway. Laughing with joy is an appropriate response.
WAIT LIKE A NESTING MOTHER
The truth is we can laugh with joy while we endure our wait for God’s promises. That’s what focusing on God’s faithfulness does in us.
If you are in an interminable wait, recall the faithfulness of God. He has not forgotten you. His timeline is perfect even when it feels impossible. Try to laugh trusting that one day your laughter will be filled with joy.
Nothing is impossible with God. Wait and hope.
I love sending my subscribers special goodies and encouragement straight to their inbox. One of those goodies is a list of 12 Verses to Help You Endure. I’d love to send it to you.
